


what started in beautiful rooms, ends with meetings in parking lots

by scsasimms



Category: Superstore (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Pining, Reunions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:29:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29779662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scsasimms/pseuds/scsasimms
Summary: hiiii! i kinda abandoned my old slowburn fic because i forgot to include parker/emma so heres this!
Relationships: Amy Dubanowski & Garrett McNeill & Jonah Simms, Amy Dubanowski & Jonah Simms, Amy Dubanowski/Jonah Simms, Garrett McNeill/Jonah Simms
Comments: 10
Kudos: 28





	1. Chapter One

_**Saturday, 20th March 2021 – 7:38 AM** _

Cold water splashed against the stubble which he had almost unknowingly let grow out over the past few weeks. although small, waking himself up with room-temperature water to the face was one of the few parts of his morning routine which he had kept up since everything went downhill. Well, he didn’t like to stay downhill, but something felt different. He was missing something. Someone, more specifically. But he knew there wasn’t anything he could do to change that. Things happen for a reason right? 

Jonah collapsed backwards onto his bed with a sigh. All he wanted was to sleep, another day at the store with all the jokes and teasing was the last thing he needed. Today was already proving to be a bad day. One of many it seemed. He let out a begrudging sigh before clambering off the silver sheets and setting out to the door. But before he left he took a stop at the box which he had hidden underneath the cabinet in his living room. Inside was everything that reminded him of her, pictures, empty chocolate boxes, and even the ring he had purchased before everything went to shit. He should have returned it by now, and he could. He snapped it open before taking a couple slow breaths and placing it away again. Part of him just wanted to hold onto it. As if she was going to come running back to him. The fantasies he created were something out of a movie but they comforted him. So he kept it, Just In case.

At work the atmosphere felt off. Carols lawsuit loomed over everyone, and it had particularly taken a toll on Glenn, who normally couldn’t stop smiling, but the days had began to feel cyclical, alike to how a nameless stranger had described them his first day on the job. Every night he questioned why he still stayed, but he knew that even if he left, all he could manage to change was the form in which he earned minimum wage. He was 34, and he didn’t have a degree, or experience, or anything. So he stayed, and tomorrow was going to be just like today. And he knew that, because today was just like yesterday.

In an attempt to distract himself, Jonah had thrust himself into the lawsuit, perhaps it was a way to live out his farfetched dreams of being a lawyer, but this was good enough. So even though he had no authority, he accompanied Glenn, trying his best to shift the blame away from him. He and Hannah hadn’t exactly dated, but they had hooked up a couple nights ago. He felt enveloped in shame when he caught himself imagining Amy whilst he was with her, so he tried his best to call it off the nicest way he could, subsequently leaving Hannah to place the blame on Jonah, claiming it was because he was set to program the robot in the first place.  
Pretty much, his life was in shambles. He was sad, and he was alone, and he was trapped in this hellish cycle of going to work, going home and going to sleep. 

‘Hey, dude.’ Garrett snapped his fingers, waking Jonah from his almost trance-like state. ‘Hannah’s asking to see you’

Jonah groaned. ‘God, again? She’s totally trying to pin this on me’

‘Yeah. That’s why you don’t have sex with the attorney trying to sue your workplace’ 

Jonah rolled his eyes and walked out of the warehouse. Before he entered the breakroom, he drew in a deep breath.

‘Hello Jonah’

‘Morning.’ Jonah responded, pulling out the chair beneath him and collapsing into it.

‘So, I’ve looked over the statements we have gathered from your co-workers and we have subpoenaed your old manager. I understand that you engaged in a romantic relationship with her so I am asking you to assure me that will not cause any problems in this case. You two will likely be working together in a lot of this. She is coming down on Monday.’

Jonah winced. He wasn’t prepared to see her again, let alone work with her.

‘We will be fine. Everything is civil, we can work together’ 

‘Dismissed’

-  


Jonah lay sprawled out across his couch, aimlessly flicking through different netflix shows before he settled on his very absent-minded parks and rec rewatch. The theme tune blared out of his tv and he settled in. The episode ended and he pulled out his phone, to which he noticed three texts from an unknown number.

Unknown number 

_**hi, idk if you heard but im coming down there for the lawsuit.**_ – 17:57

 _ **bringing parker so he can see adam but i thought you might want to see him too.**_ – 17:58

 _ **emma’s at college so shes not coming.**_ – 17:58

Jonah sat up, eyebrows furrowed, and thought a moment before replying. He hadn’t spoken to amy for about a month now, and he missed parker more than anyone could understand. Something about the thought of getting to hold his little man again made the world around him spin 1000 miles a minute. His fingers frantically navigated the screen. In a haze he could barely type, he deleted and rewrote the message about 5 times before he settled on something

 _ **When are you getting here?**_ – 16:01

He already knew this, Hannah had told him, but he couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Jonah chucked his phone to the side in an attempt to discard everything he had just read and said. Of course he was over the moon to be able to see parker again, but he knew that being around amy would bring so many problems up. He was definitely, obviously 100% not over her. But he was pretty certain she was done with him the second she got the callback about the job. If he was honest, he was pretty sure that she wasn’t as invested in their relationship from the get-go. For her it was just lust. He understood that she wasn’t as expressive of a person, but he had been all in since glow-stars and cheesy metaphors. And then she had just dumped him out of the blue, after he invested 6 years of his life in her. So, he was pretty mad. But they were being civil, so he kept it to himself.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'd recommend listening to 'Life moves on' By FINNEAS whilst you read this chapter! And on that note, I got the idea of Amy listening to this song whilst on a plane from someone on Twitter, so if that was you then you!! Anywayssss enjoy!!

The plane began its descent into St Louis international airport.  
Parker sat fidgeting in his aisle seat, his fingers latched on to the sticky case of his iPad. Amy desperately wanted to just snatch it off him. She would give anything for him not to be an iPad kid, but of course Adam had thought it would be a perfect gift for his fourth birthday. Adam didn’t have to deal with the tantrums she endured when it ran out of charge, or when the internet connection was lost, and he couldn’t listen to those stupid fucking songs which played on a loop in her nightmares.  
Luckily, he was lost in whatever game he had chosen to play, leaving Amy to rest, at least for a minute, until the plane landed. She clicked shuffle on Spotify, trying to ignore the fact that the songs she had selected for her playlist retained to her current… romantical situation a bit too accurately.

She said "you always had a way with people"  
"A way of letting them leave"  
My hands could be the church to your fingers' steeple  
But you talk so mean  
She said "you know I love you"  
I said "remind me"

Amy gazed out of the window, over the Birdseye view of St louis. Moving to California was the furthest she’d been from home. It was no secret she grew up poor, and the most she went on holiday was to a wooden lodge in Wisconsin, the winter of 1997. She missed home every day. She lived a lot more comfortably in California of course, but she missed her family, and her friends. And Jonah. 

Life moves on  
The way life does  
But some things are prettier  
The way life was  
Before we gave each other love, gave each other love

She missed the warmth he was in cold nights. She missed his hugs, how he would hold her tight, so much that any worries she had instantly subsided, and in that moment nothing else mattered, it was just her and Jonah, his fingers intertwining in her hair and his soft kisses on her forehead. She regretted not showing him the same love back. 

But I've grown uncertain  
She said "It's just a bad dream"  
But she looked too happy  
Life moves on  
The way life does  
But some things are prettier  
The way life was  
Before we gave each other love, gave each other love

She loved him, she really did, but she was scared. Adam had left her with a crippling fear of commitment. And the what if’s constantly plagued her mind. What if he was just pretending? How *could* he love her? She was a single mom, with a terrible track record for unexpected pregnancies. If that wasn’t enough to scare him away, she wasn’t sure what would be.  
But what scared him away was her. She felt like an idiot. How could she let him go? Of course she wanted to marry him, she just needed a moment to think, to understand what she was doing. Surely he could understand the issues she had associated with marriage. Maybe if he had given her until the evening, she would’ve said yes.

Life moves on  
The way life does  
But some things are prettier  
The way life was  
Before we gave each other love, love

As the song faded out, the plane glided closer and closer to the runway. She gripped parkers hand, whilst the wheels extended.

Life moves on  
The way life does  
But some things are prettier  
The way life was  
Before we gave each other up.

The plane touched down on the tarmac, and she was home again.

-

Monday, 22nd March 2021 - 14:35  
‘Hey, where are you going?’ Dina queried as Jonah punched in the pin to clock himself out.

‘Oh, I’m going to pick up Amy and parker from the airport’

‘Nope’

‘What?’

‘Nope, absolutely not, I’m not letting her fall for your skinny white boy charm again’

‘What? No? I’m not going to seduce her, I’m just taking her to her hotel!’

Dina chuckled. ‘Ha, we both know what that’s code for.’

‘Ew, Dina, no, we’ve moved on, and can you move out of my way??’

‘You didn’t seem very moved on when you threw a tantrum about her’

‘that was two months ago!’ Jonah almost shouted whilst he pushed past her and made a beeline for the doors.

-

He stood nervously at the pick-ups section of the airport. He was pretty sure he didn’t need to write her name on a battered up whiteboard like the taxi drivers either side of him so he just awkwardly waited. 

He scrolled through twitter, then Instagram, then Facebook, then back to twitter again whilst he waited. He was getting more anxious by the second, and could almost feel himself breaking into a sweat, when around the corner came Amy quickly followed by Parker.

‘Daddy!!’ Parker screeched as he ran towards Jonah. He knelt down and Parker fell into his arms, swinging him around in a hug.

‘Hey buddy!’ Jonah held him tight for a second before he loosened his grip. ‘I’ve missed you!’ 

‘I missed you too’ Parker babbled.

Still holding hi,, Jonah looked over at amy. She was smiling at them both. It reminded her of a better time, but she didn’t have that now, so she instead tended to the luggage at her side.

‘Hi’ Jonah spoke softly.

‘Hi.’

‘So… Um, How have things been? Not- Not those things, J- Just things, how are they, how’s it hanging?’

Amy couldn’t help but giggle at his awkwardness. It never failed to make her laugh.

‘Things are… Things are okay’ She replied, half-heartedly. ‘Could be better.’

‘Coolio’ 

Jonah instantly flinched. Coolio? Fucking Coolio? Idiot. But it didn’t bother Amy, she just continued giggling at him, and the whole ride home was full of stupid anecdotes from Cloud 9 and Zephra headquarters, and in the company of each others happiness, things almost felt normal.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this one is kinda short, sorryyyyyy
> 
> (also why are there spaces between apostrophes lmaoo)

So, Jonah lied. He wasn’t taking Amy to the hotel, she was staying at his place. But they had an agreement. They alternated who got to sleep in the bed every night, and it was an unspoken rule that they weren’t to talk about the breakup. After all, she was here to help with the lawsuit, they couldn’t afford to start arguing.  
Most nights parker spent curled up on Jonah’s chest, planting small kisses on the tip of his nose whilst they binged various Disney movies and munched on popcorn and ice-cream. Amy would either sit on the opposite couch or at a comfortable distance on the same couch. Parker slid in between them, and Jonah ruffled his hand through his hair. He dozed off to sleep, trapping Jonah’s hand behind his back. Jonah glanced over at Amy who was watching them with gentle eyes. Jonah opened his mouth in search of something to break the silence, but on cue, Amy excused herself.  
‘Do you want me to…’ she gestured to parker who still had Jonah’s arm pinned against the couch.  
‘Oh, yeah sure.’  
Amy lifted parker up, cradling him in her arms, and she carried him into his old room, gently placing him in the red race car-shaped bed, which Jonah had either kept up since they moved out, or put up again upon knowledge of their arrival. By the time she had entered the living room again, Jonah was upstairs. That’s fine, she thought, it was 10:42 pm anyways. Amy made the couch as comfortable as she could before settling in and slowly dozing off to sleep.

And that’s how the nights went.

-

Tuesday 23rd March - 6:30 AM  
Jonah's eyelids fluttered open at the sound of his alarm blaring. He fumbled around, gripping his phone and quickly silencing the sound. For a second he lay still, staring at the ceiling, trying his best to ignore the fact that he would inevitably have to leave the comfort of his bed for a day. Since he had seen parker again, the world had looked a little brighter. Before the fact, he basically had nothing and no-one to live for. At least it felt like that. But now that he got to see his little man again, he could feel mutual love for the first time since they left. 

As if on cue, parker came bolting into his room, hoisting himself onto the mattress and collapsing on Jonah’s stomach.  
‘Morning parks!’ Jonah mumbled, to no avail from parker who instead was up again, almost galloping down the hallway. Jonah followed quickly after him, grabbing him and tickling him until he was shrieking.

‘Someone’s up!’ Amy shouted from the kitchen. ‘There’s breakfast on the table.’

Jonah grabbed his vest and sat down at the table, digging into his bacon and eggs.

Amy glanced at the nylon blue which was sprawled across the table and drew in a deep breath.

‘You… You know you don’t have to stay working here right? You don’t have to pretend like you're waiting for it to not be obvious’

‘Waiting for what not to be obvious’ Jonah queried.

‘Do I really have to spell it out for you?’

Jonah cocked his eyebrows, urging her to continue.

‘Look, I- I don’t want you to have to stay if the only reason you stayed to begin with was for me. Go chase your dreams, Jonah!’  
He scoffed. 

‘Ha. Well, believe it or not, there's not a lot of places looking to hire a business school dropout who spent the last six years in retail because he fell in love with his floor supervisor.

'wow, so now I'm the reason you've got nothing to do in life?' she replied defensively, matching his tone.

'Uh huh! kinda!'

' You know what? you screwed up my life pretty bad too. I only divorced adam because I fell for you. if you never came here my kids would still have a dad at home' she interjected.

Jonah let out an exasperated laugh. 'No one asked you to divorce Adam! you made that choice on your own, you weren't happy even before I got here so don't go acting like _**I'm**_ the fucking homewrecker when you're the one that kissed me whilst you were still married.' 

Amy looked offended and let out a less than amused laugh.

‘Wow. Just wow Jonah.’

‘Oh my god you know that’s not what I'm saying.’

‘so what are you saying then.’

Silence enveloped the room.

‘That’s what I thought.’

Amy snatched her purse and walked straight out of the house.

-

Shit. Shit, shit, shit. She’d already messed it up. Not even 2 days later. And now she was walking to Dina's house. Her car was in California, and her phone was in the kitchen. She couldn’t go back in now. Not because she physically can't, but she needed to make a point, and retreating back into the house to grab her phone wouldn’t have had the same effect. Her mind was racing as she paced down the sidewalk. Why the fuck would he say that? He basically called her a bad person for kissing him when she was still married, but it was almost 4 years ago, shes had a whole divorce and a whole relationship and a whole child since then. It was a shitty point to make. Her cheeks were red from rage by the time she got to Dina's doorstep and she almost broke the knocker from slamming it against the door so hard.

Dina answered the door almost instantly.

‘Amy? What are you doing here’

Amy stumbled through her words as she quickly spat out a mass of stutters and incoherent obscenities whilst tears welled in her eyes, and upon noticing this, Dina forced her into the house  
‘And- And the fucking cheek had the goddamn nerve to blame my divorce with adam on me! And now there's no way we can work together on the stupid ass lawsuit-  
‘Amy…Amy!’ Dina cut her off, watching the tears spill down her cheeks. She placed a hand on Amy's shoulder. ‘Slow down. Now I don’t know what you're talking about, but I can't help you until you tell me. So take a deep breath, and tell me what's going on.’ 

Amy rubbed her hand across the back of her neck and sighed as she began.


End file.
